Warren Vs. The Cherokee

2052012

Anyone who has looked at political news in the past month knows about the Senate race in Massachusetts with incumbent Republican Scott Brown facing off against Democrat Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren. This past week, many have begun to question Warren’s claim that she is of Native American ancestry.

Warren listed herself as a Native American several years ago in order to make Harvard seem like its professors were more diverse. Genealogists have determined that Warren is only 1/32nd Cherokee, with her great great great grandmother being full Cherokee. While Warren says that she never used her status to advance her career, she did use it to deceive the public.

Personally, I do not list my self as Native American on official documents (occasionally, I might put biracial if that is an option, but never Native American), and I am over 1/8th Cherokee which is a lot more than Warren who has listed herself as Native American.

Originally Warren said that she was unaware of the press release sent by the university claiming that she was hired because of her race, but when it was discovered that she was listed as a minority professor for eight years in the American Association of Law Schools, her campaign said, “The simple fact is Elizabeth is proud of her heritage.”

To me this seems like Warren was trying to play the system to get ahead, which is what the Brown campaign is suggesting. While Senator Brown himself said that he is not accusing her of anything, he campaign manager has come out firing saying that she needs to “apologize for participating in this hypocritical sham.”

This race is currently in a dead heat, and stuff like this could possibly be enough to sway this election, so both candidates should watch out for small issues like this because they can come back to haunt them on election day.